Effect of Temperature on the Shear Strength of Fine-Grained Permafrost Soils
Publication: Geo-Congress 2024
ABSTRACT
Warming of the climate adversely impacts the permafrost by causing a degradation in the shear strength, especially in regions of discontinuous permafrost. This is triggered by an increase in the temperature of the permafrost resulting in an increase in the unfrozen water content and a weakening of underlying materials. Thus, infrastructure built in such regions will be prone to damage and failure. This study investigates the shear strength of fine-grained soils as a function of temperature. For this purpose, a temperature-controlled direct shear device was developed to conduct direct shear experiments at desired temperatures between −10°C and +4°C. The temperature-controlled direct shear device circulates chilled glycol within the device to prepare specimens with uniformly distributed ice contents at various vertical stresses. The results showed that shear strength decreased with an increase in temperature. This reduction in strength was also dependent on the vertical stress and shearing rate. At low temperatures, the samples were seen exhibiting dilative behavior, while contractive behavior was observed in the samples tested at temperatures greater than −2℃. Finally, the peak shear strength of the soil mass decreased with a decrease in the shearing rate.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
REFERENCES
Ahari, H. E., and Ajmera, B. (2023a). “Development of a Temperature-Controlled Direct Shear Box for Frozen Samples.” Geotechnical Special Publication, 340, 262–272.
Ahari, H. E., and Ajmera, B. (2023b). “Development of Temperature-Controlled Direct Shear Box.” ASTM Journal of Testing and Evaluation (Accepted-In Press).
Andersen, G. R., Swan, C. W., Ladd, C. C., and Germaine, J. T. (1995). “Small-strain behavior of frozen sand in triaxial compression.” Canadian Geotechnical Journal, NRC Research Press Ottawa, Canada.
Arenson, L. U., and Springman, S. M. (2005). “Triaxial constant stress and constant strain rate tests on ice-rich permafrost samples.” Canadian Geotechnical Journal, NRC Research Press Ottawa, Canada.
Agergaard, F. A., and Ingeman-Nielsen, T. (2012). “Development of bearing capacity of fine grained permafrost deposits in western greenland urban areas subject to soil temperature changes.” Cold Regions Engineering 2012: Sustainable Infrastructure Development in a Changing Cold Environment, 82–92.
ASTM. ASTM D3080/D3080M. (2011). Standard Test Method for Direct Shear Test of Soils under Consolidated Drained Conditions, ASTM International.
Boucher, M., and Guimond, A. (2012). Assessing the Vulnerability of Ministère des Transports du Québec Infrastructure in Nunavik in a Context of Thawing Permafrost and the Development of an Adaptation Strategy. American Society of Civil Engineers, 504–514.
Fernandez Santoyo, S., Tom, J. G., and Baser, T. (2021). “Impact of Subsurface Warming on the Capacity of Helical Piles Installed in Permafrost Layers,” Proceedings of the International Foundations Conference and Equipment Expo 2021, 323, 239–248.
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. (2020). “Global Temperature,” NASA Climate Change Vital Signs of the Planet. <https://climate.nasa.gov/>.
Streletskiy, D. A., Shiklomanov, N. I., and Nelson, F. E. (2012). “Permafrost, Infrastructure, and Climate Change: A GIS-Based Landscape Approach to Geotechnical Modeling,” Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 44(3), 368–380.
Stocker, T. (2014). Climate change 2013: the physical science basis: Working Group I contribution to the Fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge university press.
Su, X., Wang, B., and Nichol, S. (2006). Back analysis of a slope failure in permafrost in the Mackenzie valley, Canada. In Current Practices in Cold Regions Engineering (pp. 1–12).
Tiwari, B., and Ajmera, B. (2011). “A new correlation relating the shear strength of reconstituted soil to the proportions of clay minerals and plasticity characteristics” Applied Clay Science, 53(1), 48–57.
Yamamoto, Y., and Springman, S. (2014). “Axial compression stress path tests on artificial frozen soil samples in a triaxial device at temperatures just below 0 °C.” Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 51, 1178–1195.
Yamamoto, Y., and Springman, S. M. (2019). “Triaxial stress path tests on artificially prepared analogue alpine permafrost soil.” Canadian Geotechnical Journal, NRC Research Press.
Yasufuku, N., Springman, S. M., Arenson, L. U., and Ramholt, T. (2003). “Stress-dilatancy behaviour of frozen sand in direct shear.” 8th international conference on permafrost, Zurich. Balkema, Rotterdam, 1253–1258.
Yugui, Y., Feng, G., Yuanming, L., and Hongmei, C. (2016). “Experimental and theoretical investigations on the mechanical behavior of frozen silt.” Cold Regions Science and Technology, 130, 59–65.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
History
Published online: Feb 22, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Climates
- Cold regions engineering
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Environmental engineering
- Fine-grained soils
- Frost
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Material mechanics
- Material properties
- Materials engineering
- Measurement (by type)
- Permafrost
- Shear strength
- Shear stress
- Soil mechanics
- Soil properties
- Soil strength
- Soils (by type)
- Static loads
- Statics (mechanics)
- Strength of materials
- Stress (by type)
- Structural analysis
- Structural engineering
- Temperature effects
- Temperature measurement
- Vertical loads
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.